Fire Officials Shut Building After Blaze

14 Displaced

January 15, 2006|The Morning Call

ALLENTOWN

The Allentown Fire Department declared 384 W. Allen St. uninhabitable Friday night after firefighters responding to a small fire found charred wiring inside walls on all floors of the three-story structure.

A much more serious fire could have been caused by the wiring, said Deputy Fire Chief Richard Lanshe, especially with 14 people living in the building's three apartments.

"We feel we got a break here," Lanshe said. "It could have happened at 2 a.m. We avoided a very bad fire."

The fire was reported at 6:19 p.m. Friday. It was confined to a mattress on the third floor, Lanshe said.

Firefighters saw melted wires, which apparently caused the mattress to ignite, then discovered all the wiring was melted inside a wall.

One resident mentioned a "glow" outside a second-floor bathroom where firefighters found a hot spot caused by bad wiring. "When we opened the wall, the insulation was burned off," Lanshe said.

Further investigation found bad wiring inside walls on all floors.

Lanshe said the cause of the fire still is being investigated, but added, "it most likely was electrical."

Lanshe did not have the names of the displaced residents. All the residents were outside when firefighters arrived.

The fire department contacted PPL Electric Utilities to cut off electrical power and also contacted the American Red Cross of the Greater Lehigh Valley to find temporary housing for the seven adults and seven children.

Lanshe said the residents complained they had been without heat for three days and that the electricity had been turning on and off.

He declined to identify the building's owners early Saturday, but said it had just been sold Friday and the new owner was in New York City.